Stat of the day

Last week the Washington Post ran a lengthy article on Japan's health care system. While I would recommend reading the entire piece, this part absolutely needs to be highlighted and underscored:

Statistics show that the Japanese are much less likely to have heart attacks than people in the United States, but that when they do, their chance of dying is twice as high.

This is really what health care is all about. The true test of a health care system is not how many people have insurance or life expectancy, it's about what happens after you get sick. Preventing sickness is more a function of the individual, their behaviors and willingness (yes willingness, you don't go bankrupt getting a mammogram once a year) to obtain screenings and other procedures.